Imagine that you’re 15 again. After weeks of training, it’s game night. You make that goal (or touchdown or basket), and the crowd roars! It’s an experience most adults agree has value for kids. For people of a certain age, the idea that teens could get a comparable experience from something that happens behind a computer screen may seem unbelievable at first. Yet the recent rise of esports suggests otherwise, and high schools that embrace it are learning how valuable it can be for students. In fact, there are many benefits of starting an esports program in your high school.
What is an Esports Program?
Esports takes the familiar pastime of video gaming and makes it feel more like a traditional sport. A good esports program makes video games into a competitive, organized activity that people of all ages can learn from. With each year, its legitimacy as a valuable activity for students grows.
The High School eSports League (HSEL) reports that more than 125 colleges offer varsity esports, and gifted students can potentially earn prize money or even consider going pro. Huge bonus: esports players can gain real fans – just like real athletes. According to Statista, 532 million people tuned into esports in 2022!
4 Ways an Esports Program Benefits Students
Many teachers, administrators, and parents grew up with the cultural narrative that video games are bad for kids. But as esports programs start to gain steam, schools are seeing how many benefits an organized approach to video games can yield.
1. Esports teach a mix of useful skills
An esports program helps students learn how to approach video games in a way that brings out the educational side of them. Video games mix visual arts with complex, interactive storytelling. Students can learn how to recognize the artistic aspects of the game that make it successful.
For multiplayer games, players learn teamwork and communication skills. Through guided training, they learn to analyze their strengths and weaknesses and use strategy to get better over time. And competing means they’re likely to experience loss at least some of the time, which builds resilience.
2. As a team activity, it can help combat loneliness
For many kids, making and keeping friends in high school is hard in the best of times. Lately, it’s been harder than ever. A 2021 study found that older teens were one of the demographics hit hardest by loneliness during the pandemic. Esports provide students with access to a team of peers they can connect with, in a format that doesn’t require meeting in-person when doing so is unsafe.
In a Deloitte survey, most Generation Z respondents said playing video games has helped them stay connected to other people throughout the pandemic and get through difficult times. Making it a school-supported sport provides structure and consistency that can strengthen the social connections gaming offers.
3. Students can earn scholarships
Skills and community are important, but for many students, worrying about the cost of college is a regular part of life. For those who excel at esports, the activity could pay off in that realm as well. Wired reported in 2019 that around 200 colleges offer esports scholarships, to the tune of around $15 million total. They found that the average esports scholarship recipient got around $4,800, but some got much more—up to half off tuition.
That’s a lot of money your students could tap into. And as the popularity of esports grows, the amount colleges invest in esports programs is likely to grow with it, meaning more money flowing to students that compete.
4. It’s fun
All these tangible benefits are important reasons to care about esports, but they’re not the main reason students will be interested. For them—at least to start—it’s about the fun. Reports show 87% of Generation Z plays video games, and they name it their favorite media and entertainment activity. That’s what gets them interested, and what will get them to stick with it.
Kids deserve fun. But if you can turn the activity they already love into something they get more out of, without ruining what they love about it, that benefits everyone.
Esports Programs Benefit The School Too
The benefits to the kids is a good enough reason to seriously consider this. Helping them is what your school is there for, after all. But when there’s cost and work involved in doing something, you have to consider carefully what makes it worthwhile for the school.
Having a strong esports program can boost the school’s reputation. The High School Esports League now includes 3,400 schools and over 140,000 students. That shows how popular it is becoming. But in a country of over 20,000 high schools, it also makes clear how many schools don’t yet have an esports program. High schools that become early adopters in this space can attract students interested in pursuing eSports.
In addition, it can make a big difference for retention. Kids that have something at school to care about are a lot more likely to keep showing up through graduation day. For students who might be on the cusp of dropping out, the prospect of giving up a game they love and ditching a team that depends on them in the process can be a compelling reason to finish their high school degree.
We Hope You Think of Us!
Adorama is an authorized reseller of Apple products, and we also sell a multitude of other products that can get you and your school’s esports team up and running. Just to name a few, we’ve got gaming laptops, gaming keyboards, gaming headsets, and even gaming monitors.
Build Your Own Gaming Bundle
To help you start conceptualizing your esports team’s kit, below are the same items from highest to lowest price points. See if you can build your own gaming bundle right here!
Monitors
Keyboards
Mice
Headset
Get Your eSports Program Started
Deciding you’re interested in starting an eSports program is just the first step. Next, you need to start figuring out the equipment you need to set your students up for success. To learn more about the items that will help you build an amazing eSports program, reach out to our Adorama Business Solutions team.
